Media of exchange found in narratives with imaginative elements
For the practice of treating currency as a legal fiction not backed by a commodity, see fiat money. For fictional currencies used within games, such as Monopoly money, see In-game currency. For privately made issues that appear to be money but are not intended for payment issued for humor, advertising, political or artistic purposes, see fantasy issue.
A fictional currency is some form of system of money defined, depicted, or alluded to, in works of fiction, such as novels, films or video games. The names of units of such currency are sometimes based on extant or historic currencies (e.g. "Altairian dollars" or "Earth yen") while other names, such as "Kalganids" in Asimov's Foundation series, may be wholly invented. A particularly common type, especially in science fiction, is electronically managed "credits".[1][2] In some works of fiction, exchange media other than money are used. These are not currency as such, but rather nonstandard media of exchange used to avoid the difficulties of ensuring "double coincidence of wants" in a barter system.
Authors doing worldbuilding and creating imaginary societies have to take care when naming fictional currencies because of the associations between currency names and countries; recognizable names for currencies of the future (e.g. dollar or yen) may be used to imply how history has progressed, but would appear out of place in an entirely alien civilization. Historical fiction may need research. Writers need not explain the exact value of their fictional currencies or provide an exchange rate to modern money; they may rely on the intuitive grasp of their readers, for instance that one currency unit is probably of little value, but that millions of units will be worth a lot.[3]
Currencies in science fiction face particular problems due to futuristic technology allowing matter replication and hence forgery. Authors have proposed currencies that are incapable of replication such as the non-replicable "latinum" used by the Ferengi in the Star Trek universe, or the currency in Pandora's Millions by George O. Smith, which is booby-trapped to explode if scanned by a replicating machine.[4] Money in fantasy fiction faces analogous challenges from the use of magic; in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, magically created currency is time-limited, while in Ursula K. Le Guin's fictional realm of Earthsea, the world's equilibrium is unbalanced when something is created from nothing.[4]
In the Demon Princes pentalogy by Jack Vance the currency "SVU" or Standard Value Unit was described as being employed on most major settled worlds and as having a value equivalent to one hour of unskilled labor in standardized conditions. Its printed notes were verifiable by scanning with a device called a "fake meter", the function of which comprised a critical theme of the second book in the series, The Killing Machine. The protagonist undermines the system and prints 10 billion SVU undetectable by the fake meter, thus setting the stage for three books to follow.
The use of "credits" is particularly common in futuristic settings, so much so that Sam Humphries has pointed it out as a cliché: "In any science-fiction movie, anywhere in the galaxy, currency is referred to as 'credits.'"[2] Credits are frequently envisioned as a form of electronic money.[1]
In science fiction set in the near future, modern currency names are often used. The selection of familiar currencies such as the dollar or yen, particularly in the far future, may be used to make suggestions about the way history unfolded; however, it would seem strange for aliens to use a recognizable currency.[3]
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Fictional_currency, and is written by contributors.
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